2Wheeltips

    I remember my first ride very well.  It was a warm summer day, we were to meet not far from my house and the group consisted of some 40 motorcycles.   As I pulled into the parking lot I remember the feeling of excitement and nervousness knowing that I was about to embark on a new journey that would take me into adventures I had never entered before: the roads we were going to take and riding in a large group for the first time.

    Riding in a large group can be daunting for a new rider but it doesn’t have to be if you are with the right group of riders and you follow some simple rules.  It is a very satisfying feeling riding with friends and sharing your experiences together, meeting at a location after the ride to talk over a nice meal before heading home. 

    The most critical piece of information that I can forward to you is to begin by choosing your company very carefully.  Do not go on a group ride through the twisties if you find yourself going wide through turns and crossing the center line when the bike gets a little fast for you.  If you are going out with people you don’t know, you may want to remind them before the ride that you are new to group riding and that you may ride slower than they are used to.  Ask that you ride near the front of the group so that you help set the pace.  You don’t want to get lost as they ride off without you or have to double the speed limit to catch up after everybody else has been scraping the chrome off their exhaust pipes through the turns.

    Don’t be shy.  Keep in mind that at any point you feel uncomfortable, give someone in the group a signal to let them know you will be cutting out of the group and heading home.  Just let the group know what signal you will use before you begin.   Be aware that you should carefully choose the location for departing the group so you do not confuse those behind you and possibly endanger others around you.

    Listen carefully to your group leader before the ride.  I can’t tell you how many rides I have participated in that someone didn’t listen to the pre-ride instruction or simply ignored it and created unnecessary headaches for the entire group.  If you find yourself in a group that gives no instructions before the ride explaining hand signals, group formation, scheduled stops, and additional pertinent information, I would advise that you skip that ride and wait for another day.  It is also a good idea to swap cell phone numbers with your group leader before you begin so that if you do get separated before during the ride you can eventually get in contact with someone to let them know if you need help or if you are just going to head home.  Always show up with a full tank of gas.  Experience has taught me that it can be frustrating to the entire group when they are ready to begin the ride and someone yells out that they have to stop for gas as soon as everybody pulls out of the parking lot. 

    Keep in mind that some group rides travel the highway to get to the entry point for the back roads.  If you aren’t comfortable with the highways, check with the group leader to see if the highways will be used either on the ride out or the ride home.  EZ pass is a wonderful invention.  Some parts of the country use different versions of the electronic toll payment system.  If you currently do not own one, I strongly suggest you get one as they make group rides so much easier when traveling long distances.   If you don’t have one and aren’t planning on getting one, make sure you have your toll money in an easily accessible place while you are riding.  Again, it’s frustrating and sometimes dangerous when the group has to pull off the highway waiting for you to catch up because you have to take off your gloves, reach into your pocket and fish for a twenty dollar bill, then wait for change and try to stuff nineteen bills into your wallet.  Find out ahead of time how the group will handle cash tolls.  Sometimes they will ride ahead at a pace just below the speed limit and you will be responsible for catching up.  This can be problematic because you lose your position in the group and end up directly in front of the sweep (last) position.

    Group formations are generally positioned two ways: either staggered or single file when staggered formation is not possible.  Staggered formation is simply all bikes riding in one lane; one motorcycle riding over to the left side of the lane the next bike is riding about one second behind and to the right side of the lane.  The following two bikes are riding the same position only two seconds behind the bike directly in front of them.   If you visualize the group looking from the top down, you could draw a zig-zag line from helmet to helmet along the group where the distance between the moving bikes is never less than two seconds apart from one motorcycle to the next directly behind them and never less than one second closer to the bike over in the opposite side of the lane.  If you are in the left side, you don’t want to be any closer than one second to the person to your right.  If you are on the right side, you don’t want to be closer than one second to the person to your left.

     One very common accident that occurs in group riding is an accordion style crash where a rider up front stops short and everybody behind piles up behind them.  This is usually a result of poor spacing and target fixation.  The time it takes for you to get to the person in front of you in the event of an emergency stop cannot be less than what it would take to either evade what’s in front of you or stop safely.  The reason for the one second between you and the person next to you is to allow enough room for an evasive maneuver.  If you are riding directly next to someone, you can’t use the entire lane if necessary without hitting the person occupying the same space. 

    There are a million reasons why people crash; the one that always strikes me as being the one easiest to avoid is when a rider tries to keep up with the person in front of them and finds themselves outside their personal ability.  If you are out riding with the group and suddenly you find yourself in tight twisting roads, switchbacks, reduced radius turns where your pulse is rising, you start hitting the brakes because you keep heading for that center line, slow down! I mean slow down to the point where you feel comfortable entering the turns and exiting them.  The experienced riders understand that those roads aren’t for everybody and that there will be another day to ride those types roads.  One thing to keep in mind when out there is that you need to ride your own ride and not feel pressured by anybody or to ride beyond what is comfortable to you or your ability. 

    Another common mistake is that riders love to look at what they don’t want to hit.  It’s called target fixation and is a difficult habit to break.  While riding in a group, do not fixate on the person in front of you, do not stare at their back tire or tail light.  Keep your eyes on where you want to go, not where you don’t.  The same goes not just for group rides but for all of your daily riding.

    One debatable aspect of riding is when someone drops out of your group and leaves a space to be filled in.  There are some that feel that all of the motorcycles directly behind the open spot should slide up to fill in the position.  This may work when the group comes to a complete stop.  However, if this were to happen at speed, all of the motorcycles will have to pass directly abreast the bikes offset to them to fill in the space.  If any rider should need to change lane position to make an evasive maneuver, the result would be catastrophic.  In my opinion, it is much safer to shuffle left to right to avoid having to pass other riders in the same lane.  This should be discussed in the pre ride instruction to avoid confusion.

    Another important issue to remember when riding in groups is to remember the traffic laws.  It may sound silly, but if a light is red, it means stop!  Do not feel obligated to blow through a red light to keep up.  Do not ignore the stop signs to maintain the group's integrity.  We want the cars to share the road with us while we ride; we need to do the same for them.  Never assume that a car will stop simply because you are with a big group of bikes because most will not.  When following another rider, they may have enough room to make that turn before the Toyota comes barreling through from the left, but you may not.

     I find that the simplest way to look at group riding is to take all other riders out of the equation except for the two riders closest to you.  The rider offset to you in front is the person leading you, the rider offset behind is following you and is relying on you to lead them.  The rest is just traffic.  Obviously the riders other than those I just mentioned are important because they provide you with signals letting you know of hazards in the road and upcoming turns, stops, and setting the pace for the ride, but in order to reduce the workload it is easier to break your large group ride down into a small three person group within the large group. 

    An issue I have had over the past few group rides that I have participated in is that there has been a breakdown in communication at some point along the way.  A critical time in group rides is making turns where the entire group has the greatest possibility of becoming separated.  If you think of your group as the small three person set, when coming to a turn or fork in the road, check your mirror to ensure that the person behind you is still there.  If they are not, stop before making the turn so that when the rider behind you sees where they need to turn.  If this pattern is followed all the way to the front of the line, all the riders ahead will notice that the riders behind them are stopping and waiting for the person behind them.  Eventually everybody will catch up and the ride continues; think of it as a motorcycle bread trail.    

    It is advisable that an experienced rider with a good list of contacts, first aid kit and some first aid knowledge should ride sweep for the group.  Sometimes, bad things happen when riding with a group.   Something to keep in mind is to keep calm and focused on what is going on around you.  A good sense of situational awareness is a great asset.  As trained EMT’s, we were always taught that you need to keep yourself safe first.  The same holds true for accidents and breakdowns in group rides.  First and foremost is to ensure that you keep yourself out of dangers such as oncoming and passing traffic.  Do not panic, stop your bike safely and park it carefully, ride the bike to a smooth stop, and watch for hazards on the side of the road that could cause problems such as drop offs and soft shoulders.  Then deal with the problem calmly and think about what needs to be done.  Talk to those around you and come to a decision together that gets the best results.  Sometimes roadside repairs are possible; just make sure that the area is safe to work on the bike.  Never leave a rider alone to deal with a problem.  If it looks like the bike needs to be towed or it is going to be impossible to make a quick repair, it may be necessary to have the group continue on and have someone stay with the disabled bike and rider.

     In the event of a crash, do not be afraid to call an ambulance.  Sometimes the rider may be in shock and not realize the danger they are in.  Internal injuries can sometimes not show themselves until much later and in certain cases can be fatal if left untreated.  Do not cave into the pleading of the rider to refuse medical assistance when common sense tells you otherwise.  The bike can be replaced or repaired later, just take note of all the facts that may be needed hours or days later; write them down.  These may include contact info for the fallen riders’ family, what medical facility the rider is being taken to and where the motorcycle is being taken for storage. 

    Group riding can be an awesome experience, especially for the first time.  Remembering to ride your own ride helps when more experienced riders feel like showing off their motorcycle skills and keeps you from riding beyond your ability.  Breaking down the large group into a small group helps reduce your mental stress.  Finally, when choosing a group to ride with, stay away from the showboats; let them impress the kids.  You, on the other hand, should stick with more responsible, level-headed individuals.  Go out there and share some memories!

    A golf instructor once told me that in order to achieve an efficient swing every time you must allow your muscles to remain loose.  Grip the club softly because tight muscles are slower than loose muscles and you’ll never achieve a decent club head speed with stiff muscles.  You become fatigued when having a real firm grip and it becomes impossible to achieve a smooth swing.  What does this have to do with riding a motorcycle?  Funny you should ask.  Recently a friend brought up a good observation when it comes to new riders, and it is also a very common problem with new golfers, and it is where the two are very similar.

    A motorcyclist needs to be aware of a million different variables; the situation that you find yourself in is dynamic and fluid.  Anything can happen at any time and riding requires a tremendous amount of concentration; sometimes your response can be the difference between a simple inconvenience and a trip to the emergency room or worse.   Most experienced riders are comfortable on their bikes and are relaxed.  The way their hand wraps around the grips is loose; allowing smooth responses and inputs into steering the bike also adjusting throttle and braking.  Where the experienced riders tend to make the mistakes is because of complacency and over confidence; they assume they have enough time and miles under their belt to simply know better or that they have the ability to outride the laws of physics. 

    A newer rider has more of a tendency to hold the handlebars with all his or her might, hoping that doing so will somehow enable them to react quickly when in fact, the opposite is true.   Also the fear of what could happen manifests itself in holding the grips with white knuckles and being overly cautious of what could be.  A good habit to get into is to learn to relax while still remaining aware and sharp.  A result of holding the grips too tight is that after a while, you will begin to feel fatigue in your shoulders and eventually your upper back.  If you are on a long ride, this becomes more dangerous because now your focus is shifted from the hazards around you to the pain in your back, shoulders and hands.  Coupled with hand fatigue which might cause you to let go of the grip, this could be a disaster in the making.

    Remember the tight muscles?  Those tight muscles make it impossible for you to react quickly and smoothly.  You may recall from your BRC class that it takes one half second to take your hand from the throttle to the brake lever and another half second to squeeze the brake.  If you find yourself having to make an emergency stop, those tight muscles will not only reduce your reaction time considerably, but also cause you to snap off the throttle and slam on those brakes, almost guaranteeing a massive loss of traction and inevitably, because you are now panicked, the bike will more than likely go down.  In addition, slower turns are no longer smooth and safe, but become choppy and abrupt usually resulting in a wider turn than what you had anticipated, possibly causing you to cross the center line or even leave the road surface altogether.  Faster turns will be more difficult and efficient counter steering becomes impossible because you can’t lean the bike smoothly possibly creating a situation where you take the turn way too wide.

    Worst of all, you just don’t look cool.  Your shoulders up around your ears and your arms straight out make you look like a scared mouse in a helmet. Definitely not cool.  Just remember to relax.  You know how to ride; just stay focused on what’s going on around you and loosen up those hands.  Stay focused, not afraid. You might even find that you can go the extra hundred miles and still come home smiling, ready to go out again tomorrow.  

    What was the first thing you thought of when you heard the words “counter steering”?  I remember what ran through my mind; is that even possible?  What a counter intuitive thing to try and figure out.  You want me to go barreling down the highway and turn the bike by “counter steering?”  So I did a little research into this mysterious technique and honestly, I got more confused with every article, explanation, and video.  To my amazement I found that the ability to perform counter steering properly was pretty much written off as something that comes naturally.  The general consensus was if you can ride a bicycle down a hill, then you already know how to do it. 

I’m sorry, but that’s not going to fly, especially experiencing some close calls of my own and after speaking with a few newer riders, listening to their definition of counter steering and watching some of my friends lean their 800 pound cruisers through the turns.  Even at the Motorcycle Safety Foundation classes, they preach that you should look, lean and roll on the throttle as you take the turns, but what does that mean? 

As I gained my experiences riding, I found myself pushing the envelope a little more as time progressed by upping my speed in the turns and tried just leaning the bike more.  I simply did this because that’s what all of my instructors had been telling me.  But to just lean the bike didn’t improve my cornering ability; it just made the bike lean more in a wide arc that usually resulted in me having to slow down through the turn or worse, crossing the center line.  For me, this was completely unacceptable.  I needed to find out what I was doing wrong, I didn’t like making the same mistakes over and over, I wanted to improve my riding skills, and become a safer rider at the same time. 

The answer came to me like a bolt of lightning during a practice session in a parking lot while trying to do some slow speed turns.   I began forcing my bike to lean more by pushing hard on the grip down on the side I was trying to turn the bike.  In other words, it was like I was trying to push the bike to the ground to get it to lean over.  It takes a lot of time to master [this technique] and is part of the progression in Ride Like A Pro, but this was the answer I was looking for. It was the “lean” and the counter steer all in one.  As I turned my bike in sharp turns, I was actually performing the equivalent of a counter steer and my bike was making sharp turns so tight I was surprising myself.  The simplicity of making the bike do the work, without having to use the weight of my body to get the bike to roll and turn to the left and right was a huge find. 

The proof came when I took the bike out and began riding through some nice curved roads.  I slowed the bike to a comfortable entry speed and looked through the turn.  I rolled on the throttle and pushed the bike under me without leaning my whole body with the bike by pressing down on the grip in the direction of the turn.  I realized that I was extremely comfortable throughout the entire turn and looked for more situations to try out my new found technique.  The beauty of my new find was that the curves and turns were less threatening to me.  I was also surprised to discover that I seemed to have a lot more lean in reserve than before learning this, and the turns that would scare me before, were easy to navigate.

If you can, imagine yourself straddling a bicycle standing upright with your feet flat on the ground.  Now picture yourself lightly pulling up on the left grip while pressing down on the right grip causing the bike to lean. The only difference between that and counter steering is that your press is down and forward in the direction of the turn.  The harder you press, the tighter you will turn.  One thing to keep in mind is that while performing these techniques, keep your muscles nice and loose, as it enables you to perform them so much more smoothly because remember, “Smooth = Cool”.   A death grip on the handlebars will do nothing but impair your ability to react quickly and fatigue you a lot faster than normal.  You want to keep your eyes level with the horizon (tilt your head to do this), which is one reason why simply leaning your body doesn’t work so well because it’s nearly impossible to keep your eyes level with the roadway while leaned all the way over.  I found that trying to keep my spine perpendicular with the road surface or my shoulders parallel allows me to work the bike beneath me, again, allowing the bike to do the work. 

Once you have found what works for you with counter steering, you’ll find that you are less fatigued when riding the windy roads, and even lane changes become easier.  You can snap your bike to different lines and avoid obstacles that much more efficiently.  Learning to counter steer correctly makes riding much more enjoyable.  It will also improve your ability to ride safely.  I hope this answers the question of what counter steering really is. So get out there and work on your counter steering.